Any regular readers of this web site won't be surprised by any of the offensive racial stereotypes conjured up, day after day, by Kathy Shaidle. I've documented plenty of examples of her bigotry. So have others; it's all there in Google.

What Shaidle says, sadly, isn't surprising anymore. What is surprising is this: why have reputable organizations recently considered it acceptable to give legitimacy to her brand of hate? More than that - why have these organizations actually defended her bigotry?

There are three.

One is Steve Paikin's TVO. On his TVO blog, Paikin said that Shaidle is “respectful, opinionated.” Even after learning about her racist “opinions,” even after many, many taxpayers objected, Paikin insisted on having her on his show. That’s his right, I suppose. As taxpayers, it is equally our right to object to that.

Another example is found with a prominent Jewish advocacy organization (which I cannot name due to anticipated legal action). I have seen a statement from the organization's chief lobbyist in which he blithely dismisses the concerns about Shaidle – even after it is specifically brought to his attention that the infamous blogger calls Sikhs “backward foreigners” and Muslim children “parasites” – and in which he says “he would proceed” with a decision to invite Shaidle on an all-expenses-paid junket. According to her, “they're determined to have me be part of it.”

The third example, and most seriously, is the governing Conservative Party of Canada. In recent days, MPs Lois Brown, Daryl Kramp and others have angrily defended Shaidle in the House of Commons. Brown has even said it was "outrageous" to simply object to giving a platform to someone who calls Muslims and natives "parasites." As Shaidle does.

Is that what Stephen Harper’s Conservative Party thinks, now? That it is “outrageous” to protest calling Muslims and native Canadians “parasites?” What do Wajid Khan and Leona Aglukkaq think about that?

When I spoke to the London Free Press reporter yesterday, I said that it was simply tragic that a writer with Kathy Shaidle’s early promise would embrace bumper-sticker racism, in exchange for some web traffic, and to facilitate the sales of a couple self-published books.

What is even more tragic, however, is that reputable people and organizations have chosen to give her legitimacy. By doing so, they diminish their own reputations – and that, of course, is the greatest tragedy of all.

"Today, in the London Free Press, Randy Richmond exposes Shaidle's racist views and sounds the alarm on Five Tons of Fury's invitation to speak in that city on the issue of human rights "Maxwell Devlin, Blogger